Acolad, a language service provider based in the Ile-de-France just announced that they are “joining forces” with Amplexor, based in Bertrange in Luxembourg. The acquisition will make Acolad Group the biggest LSP headquartered in mainland Europe, and the seventh-biggest LSP globally.

“Joining forces with Amplexor will reinforce our technological excellence and global footprint,” Acolad stated with the announcement.

This consolidation is contingent upon necessary antitrust approvals, and will be completed by the end of the 2020 fourth quarter. “We are really happy about this agreement and confident the EU will validate the deal soon,” said Victoria Weidemann, CMO of the Acolad Group. When the deal is confirmed, the Acolad Group will employ over 2,000 individuals. Their combined turnover from last year would total over 270 million euros. However, Acolad will not acquire all of Amplexor — the deal excludes some business segments of Amplexor.

“Amplexor is a major player on the market. When we started learning more about the group, we identified so many complementarities that this deal quickly became a no-brainer for us. I am particularly proud that we will team up to confirm our leadership in life sciences and the public sector as well as on the US market, where Acolad has been seeing increased traction,” said Benjamin du Fraysseix, president of the Acolad Group.

“Together, Amplexor and Acolad have the industry knowledge, strategy, and leadership to solidify and expand their position as a major force in the content and language services industry worldwide. I’ve been admiring Acolad’s stronghold in Benelux, Southern and Northern Europe,” said Amplexor CEO Mark Evenepoel.

Amplexor and Acolad will combine their client and solution portfolios in industries such as life sciences, manufacturing, IT, finance, consumer goods and the public sector, with Amplexor remaining a major vendor to EU institutions. Amplexor will also bring a portfolio of digital solutions to the Acolad Group, including content management, global compliance, and digital experience.

The merger is the second this month that reorganizes the top ten biggest LSPs in the world. The deal follows only weeks after RWS announced it was going to acquire SDL in a billion-dollar deal. Asked about his thoughts on RWS-SDL, du Fraysseix said, “It makes sense, for the same reasons — we feel our deal is quite similar to this deal, even though smaller in size.”

CSA Research released a graphic tracing the changes to the top ten since 2005, newly updated this morning to reflect the Acolad/Amplexor acquistion. The Nimdzi top LSPs breakdown from earlier this year had Amplexor already listed as the tenth-biggest provider.